


Emotional Support

by silver_roses



Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: Dorks in Love, F/M, empaths are the best at this, sophie needs a hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-22 04:37:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19659979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silver_roses/pseuds/silver_roses
Summary: Sophie can't control her nightmares. Vision after haunting vision, she pushes her trauma aside. Eventually, it becomes too much.*All characters and places belong to Shannon Messenger.*





	1. Chapter 1

She woke up in a cold sweat, complete with furrowed brows and uncontrollable shaking. Sophie’s nightmares had been fervid, in more than one way. The visions that left her sleepless had been centered around flames. Everblaze, sure, but normal flames as well. Flames that engulfed her home, her enemies, her loved ones. She couldn’t escape them. Every time she shut her eyes, there they were, burning as always. Restless, she crept out of bed, careful not to wake Sandor. Despite all her visions of fire, there was still a crisp chill in the air. Clutching her quilt, she tip-toed to the massive window in her bedroom, her feet making indents in the flowered carpet. With the blanket wrapped around her shoulders, Sophie sat cross-legged in front of the freezing cold glass. 

As she was staring at the quiet, wintry scene laid out before her, she found herself longing for company. She loved Grady and Edaline, but she didn’t want to deal with adults right then. She needed another teenager; someone who could laugh with her or cry with her or simply sit with her. She couldn’t hail Dex; he was babysitting the triplets that night. Fitz was a no for obvious reasons, and if she asked to see Biana, he’d definitely want to tag along. She was also _not_ in the mood for a Team Foster-Keefe official meeting, as Keefe had begun to call the times they were together. Keefe wouldn’t ever leave her alone. He always had a joke to crack at her expense. He always had a reason to bug her. He was always there with a stupid little smirk plastered on his face. 

Always, always,  _ always! _

Always. He was always there.

With a sudden change of pace, she channeled her energy to her mind and reached out, letting her consciousness pour over her surroundings, trying to reach  Candleshade, where Keefe was staying this weekend, much to his demise. 

_ Keefe? _

Nothing.

_ Keefe!  _

When there was no response a second time, Sophie started to panic. Her mind drifted to the horrible visions she had been enduring just minutes before. She had to  remind herself she had only called twice, and besides, it was the middle of the night. Keefe was probably sleeping. She would call once more, then put the whole thing to rest.

_ Keefe?! _

Groggily, he responded.  _ Foster? Couldn’t live without me, huh? _

She could hear the smirk in his voice, and she hoped his empathy was strong enough for him to pick up on the eye roll she was sending his way.  _ NO. I just . . . couldn't _ _ sleep.  _

_ Aww, Foster needs a friend! _

_ Shut  _ up, _ Keefe! Can’t you stop with the jokes for once?! _

_ Whoa, there, Foster, take a breather. _

She tried to shove the spontaneous anger into the ball of emotions nestled above her stomach, but it wouldn’t rest. 

_ Foster? Foster, I can feel you freaking out.  _ She couldn’t pay attention to him. For some reason the stress from the nightmares began to come flooding back. He  wouldn’t listen, just like no one else would listen. She could feel the emotions in her cracking, splintering, begging to be set free.  _ Foster?! Sophie, listen to me!  _ Something on  her face was wet. Tears she hadn’t noticed springing from her eyes.  _ Screw it, Foster,  _ she heard Keefe think.  _ I’m on my way. _

Before she put two and two together, Keefe had already severed their connection. 

_ Keefe! KEEFE! _

Of course. No response. She would just have to wait.


	2. Chapter 2

No more than three minutes later, Sandor popped his head in the doorway. “Miss Foster, you have an extremely exhausted Mr. Sencen outside. I wasn’t informed of this visit,” he stressed, complete with a disapproving death stare, “but I was feeling nice and figured you didn’t need Grady to deal with _that boy_ at three in the morning.”

“Sandor, cut to the point,” Sophie snapped, not quite sure where the snarkiness was coming from. 

“ _Sorry_ , Miss Foster. The _point_ is that Keefe is waiting out in the freezing cold for you to either let him in or tell him to go home. And I don’t think he’s going to take the latter for an answer.”

“Fine. Let him in. But don’t let him wake up Grady and Edaline.”

“Alright. By the way, be glad he’s an Empath. Maybe he can help with that moodiness of yours.” 

Before Sophie could respond, Sandor was out the door, on his way to get Keefe. A minute or so later, Sophie heard a knock on the door. “Come in.”

A shivering Keefe burst throught the door of her bedroom. It seemed as if seeing her was the final straw for him. His nonchalantness had gotten the better of him. He couldn't keep up the act. “Foster, are you okay? You called for me and I was confused but when you started to get upset it was the scariest thing, I mean, I could _feel_ it from Candleshade and I was worried because you stopped saying things and I thought something had happened and I had to get over here and then Gigantor took the loooongest time to get you to let me in, well it wasn’t that long it just felt long because it was so cold and I-”

“Shhh!” Sophie commanded. “Keefe, you need to shut up!” The overwhelming emotions were flooding back, but this time, it wasn’t from anger. She couldn’t place this one.

“Whoa,” Keefe whispered. “I am getting some _serious_ feelings from you, Foster.”

The emotions began to thrash around her body like a tornado, each crevice filling with anger or fear or sadness or stress or confusion. There was no rational thought happening. She tried to gain control, but the grasping fear began to fill her body, as well as emotions Sophie hadn’t known were there. Distantly, she could feel herself moving. But the emotions blinded and fueled her, keeping her going and going. She was drowning in feelings; elation, sorrow, fear, exhaustion. Until there was nothing. There was so, so much. But now it was nothing. Before she could think any more, a sky blue wave crashed over her senses, making her calm again. 

Slowly, Sophie opened her eyes. She had a throbbing headache. Finally, she remembered herself. Keefe. 


	3. Chapter 3

“Keefe?” She whisper-shouted. “Keefe?” She looked around. She was now on her bed. Keefe was as well, but he was slightly less conscious. “Keefe! Keefe, wake up!” She shook him a little bit, not fully sure of what had happened. His eyes parted slightly, and by the way he squinted, she knew he was grateful it was still quite dark in her room. 

Not moving from his postion on the bed, Keefe breathed, “Foster, you have got some _emotions_.” 

“What happened?” Sophie asked, putting her fingers to her temples to try and soothe the shooting pain. 

He took a breath that made it seem like he was going through a similar struggle. “Well, I was talking, you told me to shut up, then you went blank. I couldn’t get any reaction out of you. Anything I tried went straight over your head. But I could tell your emotions were going nutso.” He made a silly face in an attempt to make her laugh, but she just stared at the wall, not ready to turn to humor. He looked away. “Anyway, I picked you up and brought you to your bed, and . . . did . . . something. I don’t know exactly what, but I could tell you needed help so I just . . .”

“Wow.” Her head still felt like Verdi was using it as a chew toy.

“Yeah. Whatever it was, it was exhausting.” Sophie stared at Keefe as he looked down and scratched the back of his head in a manner that made her feel for the boy in a way that she hadn’t yet assigned a label to. When he looked up, she could see the color that had flushed to his cheeks. This, in turn made her suddenly aware of the heat in her own. As red as he was, he seemed to turn ten shades darker as he said, “Whoa, Foster, that is some intense mood swinging going on there.”

Now it was her turn to become very interested in her lap. She didn’t know what to say. “Thank you,” she mumbled, still looking down. 

“Anytime, Sophie.” She looked up. Sophie? He never called her Sophie. The way he said it with such gentility made her heart flutter. 

_For Keefe?_ she thought. _My heart is fluttering for Keefe?_

“Is everything alright?” She didn't know. She didn't think so.

Yet she still replied with, “Yeah.” A blatant lie. Sophie refused to look at him once more. 

He reached out and cupped her face with his palm. Her stomach flipped again. “Foster. I'll ask again. Everything alright?” He had managed to get closer during the short time she had been looking away. They were now both sitting cross-legged on the bed, knees touching. 

“No?” She could tell he didn’t have a response, and his face twisted up with concern, so she tried to save the awkwardness by saying, “Come. Sit.” She slid over, patting the space next to her. 

“Oh, wait!” Keefe quietly exclaimed, hopping off the bed and hurrying to retrieve the quilt from the floor by the window. “Here you are, Miss Foster,” he said in his best regal voice as he draped the blanket over her legs and slid in beside her. He yawned and put his arm around her shoulder. She tensed. Immediately, he pulled away. “What?” he asked quickly, obviously hoping he hadn’t overstepped any boundaries. 

“It’s just . . .”

“Come on, Foster, you can tell me anything.” 


	4. Chapter 4

“I-,” she hesitated. Keefe took her hands. She pulled away, not wanting to accept his support. She could handle it on her own. “I’m sorry. It's just-”

“Foster, you don’t have to-”

“Keefe, let me talk.” He was quiet. Surprisingly. She took a breath. “See, that’s the thing about you. Loyal, loving, brave, sure. But you don’t know when to stop. You always tease me, you’re always talking and cracking jokes, you’re always going off on your own and being strong and independent and sticking up for me, but you never know when to _quit_.” He began to study the blanket. She looked the other way. Silence. 

Keefe sighed. “Foster.” With a sudden sweetness, he gazed into her golden-brown eyes for a considerable amount of time, as if he was trying to memorize every detail. He reached out to push her hair out of her face. Sophie didn’t object, studying his ice blue eyes in return. Finally, Keefe seemed to remember himself. He looked away quickly and pulled his hand back with a similar urgency. He fidgeted for a moment. “Foster, I didn't mean to hurt you, okay. My life is messed up. No joke, I'm lost. But then there's you. You're so . . . amazing and smart and kind. I don't want you to get messed up like me. I go off on my own to stop _you_ from getting hurt and involved in my own problems. I stick up for you because I _care_ about you. I use humor as a personal defense mechanism. Not gonna lie, that one's kinda on my parents, though. It’s _not_ about you. And I tease you . . .” He took a breath.

“What?” He had been tearing down her wall of emotions brick by brick, making her go soft again. But when he didn’t respond, she started to get fed up. He was always poking fun of her. She wasn’t going to lie; it did not feel good. “No, please, come up with a good reason for your constant teasing. Come up with a good _excuse-_ ”

“Sophie, I-” He started. He stopped. He was shaking slightly.

“Keefe?” He looked away. Had she done something completely wrong? She didn't feel like a very good friend. She sighed. “Keefe, what's wrong?”

He took an unstable breath. “I tease you to get you to notice me.” He turned and stood in the silence that followed. “I’m an Empath, okay? I get it. Don’t think I can’t feel all the butterflies you get when Fitz walks into a room and flashes you his perfect smile. _You and Wonderboy forever._ We all get it. Or Dex. He liked you for so long. What did you do? Tell him you were cousins and kiss him out of pity. I don’t need your pity. Okay? I’m done. Go hook up with Wonderboy. I won’t talk to you anymore. I won’t defend you anymore. I won’t tease you anymore. I’ll leave you alone, just like you want me to.”

“Keefe-”

“What? What more could you want? I’ve given you all the help I can. I’ve given you my heart. I’ve given you permission to date whoever you want, not that you need _my_ approval. What do you want?”

“I want you to come here and sit.”

“Why?” Keefe deadpanned.

Sophie rolled her eyes. “Just come here.” The boy sauntered over and plopped himself down onto the edge of the bed, facing away from her. “No. Actually.” Reluctantly, he stuck his feet under the covers and sat next to her. “Look at me.”

He faced his head towards her, eyes like ice. “Foster, don’t you think-”

Before she knew what she was doing, she had pressed her lips up against his. She felt a burst of warmth wherever their skin met, but it was sweet and soft. Gentle and pure. She pulled away after a few seconds.

“Sophie, why?” The confusion in his eyes made Sophie long to calm this boy’s aching heart; to help him escape every demon clouding his mind. 

“Keefe, my head wants Fitz.” 

He turned away again. “Sophie, just stop, please-”

“No. My head wants Fitz.” 

He looked at her again, pleading with his eyes to have her go easy on his heart. “Sophie-”

“My heart wants you.” Keefe froze. He looked down at his hands, which he let wrap around Sophie’s. 

He let himself read her emotions. “Foster,” he breathed, “you’re not lying.”

She let a smile inch across her face. “No, I’m not.”

Keefe chuckled. “Foster, I-” He looked down, still holding onto her hands. “You came around.” He laughed in disbelief. 

“Yeah.”

Keefe looked up and let one hand caress her face. “Finally.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, you finished! This was supposed to be a one shot but I decided to break it up once it got longer and had some basic plot points. I hope you liked it!


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